Archive | Winter 2008 Recipes

Wayne and Betty Paul started farming in Laurel, Iowa in 1959. A few years into their commercial farming operation, the Pauls turned their backs on chemicals. Paul’s Grains began raising organic cornmeal, oatmeal and whole wheat flour. Their product line expanded to include seven grain flour, barley, soy, rye and other all natural grains and wheat. Now the next generation of the Paul family — Steve and Theresa, along with their six children – have continued the tradition, and things are going strong. “We’re seeing more people as they get interested in knowing where their food comes from,” Theresa Paul said.

Growing and harvesting season is followed by baking season, and this cornbread recipe is the perfect way to keep warm and cozy during the cold winters. The Paul family warns that the only trick to this recipe is to stir the batter just enough to get it moist. Over-stirring can make the bread come out flat. Pauls’ cornmeal is openly-pollinated (not a hybrid) and studies have suggested that open pollinated corn is even more nutritious than pollinated corn.

After years of cooking in other people’s and other restaurants’ kitchens, Kristina Arnold developed a fondness for international flavors. The sights, the tastes and particularly the smells of herb and spice blends delighted her in everyway.

Arnold left restaurant scene and has her own shop at Cocina Del Mundo (Kitchens of the World) in North Liberty. The shop, filled with spice blends, soup mixes, dips and other culinary treasures, is a hidden – and fragrant — gem. Inspired by the cuisines of Africa, Asia, the Middle East, and the Mediterranean, Arnold started making her own spice mixes perfect for the exploratory home cook. Most of the herbs Arnold uses are home grown, and many of the spices are sourced from Iowa’s own Frontier Natural Products Co-op, the world’s largest supplier of organic herbs and spices.

When winter sets in, Arnold likes to bring a touch of summer to her roast meats with window-grown thyme and summer-gathered lavender buds.

The word “locavore” may have just made the Oxford University Press “2007 Word of the Year”, but it is not a new concept to Iowans, as the staff at Urbandale’s Living History Farm (LHF.org) would be proud to prove. Food heritage is a critical part of their historic interpretation at their re-created 1700 Ioway Village, 1850 Pioneer Farm and 1900 horse-powered farm.

This winter, the Living History Farm is offering special dinner events featuring historically accurate recipes from the late 19th century. The menu is driven by things grown and gathered during the summer months on the farm, and then cooked on wood-burning stoves by staffers who have spent the morning churning butter and grinding flour. The meals are literally just like Grandma used to make, if Grandma happened to live on a working Iowa farm when horsepower revolutionized Iowa’s agriculture industry. Either way, Grandma was certainly a locavore, even before Oxford University Press knew about it.

For more information about the dinners, visit the Living History Farm Web site at LHF.org.

While chocolate is certainly not local to Iowa, it pairs perfectly with locally made River City Port from West Branch’s Wallace Winery. Wallace Winery opened its doors in November, 2005 with the oak barrel aged River City Port on the shelves. Since then, it’s really become a signature bottle for the winery. But this is not just any Port. “I like to describe it as fresh, with undertones of cherry.” Says Melody Wallace, one of the co-owners of Wallace Winery. “And it’s not as sweet or syrupy as other ports”. In other words, Wallace Winery’s port is a local surprise – a local surprise that pairs perfectly with chocolate.

This particular chocolate biscotti was developed by the winery for the Iowa Wine Trail’s open house weekend earlier this month. Wallace Winery even suggests forgoing coffee or tea, and go straight to dipping the biscotti in port for a super holiday treat.

Beet borscht, one of my Grandmother’s signature dishes, came straight from her Russian roots into my father’s heart. He loved the stuff. So, when the weather got chilly, my Grandmother went into borscht overdrive. She always made the soup in her own kitchen, and always alone. The recipe seemed to be shrouded in secrecy. Even my father, who was a pretty good cook and a quick culinary study, couldn’t figure it out.

One day, my father finally sat his mother down to crack the borscht code. After some lengthy interpretation and negotiations, my father wrestled a recipe out of her, which was eventually handed down to me.

I’ve been toting around the recipe, with reverence, for about two decades. With Iowa’s beet bounty in hand, I finally mustered up enough courage to try it. Things didn’t go so well however. I had some problems reading the recipe off the scrappy paper, finding the right cut of meat, and getting the lima beans prepped. Nor am I not sure that my Grandmother wasn’t tricking my father when revealing the proportions. But the beets were fresh and flavorful, and brought my Russian heritage a little bit closer to my current … Read More

Now that the prime growing season for winter squash is winding down, it’s time to tackle the small mound of hard rinds that have accumulated. Soup is super, and by using beer as a secret ingredient, some of Iowa’s best fall flavors are blended together. A beer on the malty side makes this bisque best, and Joe Stutler of Beer-U.com favors the Oktoberfest brew from Fort Madison’s Lost Duck Brewery for this batch.

And a tip for those with dull knives or stubborn squash skins: try roasting the whole squash for about 15-20 minutes. Once the skin is soft enough to prick with a fork, it will be easy to peel off and scoop out the seeds. But be careful, it will be hot hot hot inside that gourd! And the meat might be a tad drier than usual. But, pop it into soup and the flavor will come through.

Conjure up blissful scenes of the Italian countryside, replete with lazy picnics of fine cheese, fine wine and an array of dried cured meats at the ready. Sounds lovely indeed, and even lovelier still knowing that Herb and Kathy Eckhouse of Norwalk are giving the best Italian meats a run for their money at La Quercia Prosciutto. Prosciuttificio La Quercia opened in Norwalk, Iowa in February, 2005. Using some of the best traditions and some of the best pigs, the Eckhouse’s La Quercia pancetta and prosciutto have become delicacies in demand in Iowa and across the country.

The Recipe

This pasta dish makes a great late night supper, according to Kathy Eckhouse of La Quercia. The best part is that it is infinitely adaptable. She suggests rounding out the meal with fresh bread, a leafy green salad, or pan cooked winter greens.